New priest in residency: Fr. Sebastian Chacko

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ather Sebastian Chacko,

KEARNS — On Jan. 11, the Diocese of Salt Lake City welcomed Father Sebastian Chacko, who has been assigned as a priest in residency at Saint Francis Xavier Parish in Kearns.

Fr. Chacko, who was born in 1948 in India, felt his call to the vocation to the priesthood when he was at a young age, he said.

“When I was 6 years old my uncle was ordained a priest. My mother always prayed that one of her three sons would be called to the priesthood,” Fr. Chacko said.

 Her prayers were heard; on Dec. 19, 1976 he was ordained to the priesthood in his hometown.

 Fr. Chacko speaks the Samoan language fluently in addition to English, Malayalam, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil and Swahili.  

“Almost every state in India has its own language and dialects. I studied in various parts of India and picked up the local languages,” he explained. “As a missionary in whatever country I worked I had to learn their language to be an effective priest and missionary.”

In 1990 he was incardinated [formally accepted] into the Diocese of Samoa and in 2005 he was incardinated into the Diocese of Hawaii.

During his time in Samoa and Hawaii, he was the pastor of five different parishes. He retired in 2017 from Hawaii at the age of 70,  but then received an invitation to minister to the Samoan community in New Zealand.  

The original invitation was to serve for two to three years, but when he got there, he learned that he could stay for only one year.

“That was the government policy, that priests could not serve after the age of 70,” said Fr. Sebastian, as he prefers to be called.

However, his ministry as a missionary priest continued; he was asked to come to Utah to serve the Samoan community here.  

“The Catholic Samoan community of Utah have wanted to have a Samoan priest to assist them for over 20 years,” Fr. Sebastian said. “Recently, when I was in American Samoa, the vicar general there, Rev. Fr. Viane Etuale, asked me if I could go to Utah, and then I applied and was accepted.”

Fr. Sebastian will be assisting Fr. Eugenio Yarce, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish, said Fr. Ken Vialpando, diocesan vicar for clergy.

The parish community is comprised of Latinos, Anglos and Samoans.

Alongside the languages mentioned, Fr. Sebastian also speaks some Latin and Italian, and he is beginning to learn Spanish – “at least enough to be able to say Masses and conduct services in Spanish,” he said.  

In welcoming Fr. Sebastian, Fr. Vialpando joked that, “While you are here, you may even have time to learn at least one or two more languages, and why not, since the seven languages that you speak already are just the tip of the iceberg.”

So far, Fr. Sebastian has enjoyed his time in Utah, he said. “Everything here is pretty good except for the cold.”  

He lived 15 years in Samoa and 22 years in Hawaii, “so here it’s a different place,” he said. “I have had very good impressions based on the welcome by the Samoan Catholics and Rev. Fr. Eugenio Yarce and the parish.”

His goals for his new community are “to provide them with spiritual assistance using their language and culture. …  By the grace of God, my experiences with the loving and respectful Samoan communities will be useful in starting and sustaining the ministry among them and for them,” he said.